Published: May 31, 2007

The reputed head of the Genovese crime family, Danny Leo, was charged yesterday with extortion and loan sharking. Mr. Leo, known as the Lion, was ordered held without bail in Federal District Court after being arrested on charges of conspiring to extort the owner of a livery car business and owners of a gambling business from 2002 until November. Assistant United States Attorney Eric Snyder said the government could prove that Mr. Leo is ''the current boss of the Genovese crime family, perhaps the largest and most violent crime family that exists.'' Mr. Leo's lawyer, Peter Tsapatsaris, said the charges were unsubstantiated. He argued that his client should be freed on bail or at most limited to home detention because he had only one arrest in his background and that was in 1980. Mr. Leo, 65, could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted.